Hair tress gauge



Nov. 28, 1961 L. LERNER HAIR TRESS GAUGE Filed March 18, 1958 United States Patent 3,010,459 HAIR TRESS GAUGE Louis L. Lerner, Chicago, Ill., assignor to The Gillette Company, Boston, Mass., a corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 18, 1958, Ser. No. 722,213 Claims. (Cl. 132-148) This invention relates to a hair tress gauge and pertains more specifically to a unitary, one-piece, molded plastic device for gathering together a mass of hair sufficient to form a tress of predetermined size.

In the permanent waving of hair, it is customary to divide the hair into a number of separate tresses, rolling each tress upon an individual curler and then subjecting each of them to the action of the desired waving agent. In order to obtain the best and most uniform results, each tress should contain the same quantity of hair and should be treated with the same quantity of waving agent.

One object of the present invention is to provide a device to facilitate the selection and formation of a hair tress of uniform size for wrapping on a curler.

Another object is to provide a hair tress gauge of simple and inexpensive construction which is readily used even by an unskilled operator for the selection of hair tresses of uniform size.

Other and further objects will be apparent from the drawing and from the description which follows.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a view in side elevation;

FIG. 3 is a view in end elevation taken from the left-hand end of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view taken along line 44 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a view in cross section taken along line 55 of FIG. 2.

In the embodiment shown in the drawing, the device includes a pair of spaced-apart leg members 10, '12 joined together by a root portion 14 adjacent one end thereof. A handle 16 extends outwardly from root section 14 to facilitate manipulation of the device, although the handle is not an essential part and may be omitted if desired. Each of the leg members 10, 12 consists of a relatively thin web provided with a transversely extending reinforcing rib 18, 20 which serves to provide additional stiifness, each leg member thus having a generally T- shaped cross-section configuration while the handle, which is formed simply from a continuation of the web portions and of the ribs 18, 20, has the cross-sectional configuration of an I-beam, as appears in FIG. 5. In the preferred embodiment shown in the drawings, the two leg members are straight and are arranged parallel to each other so that they define a plane.

The leg members terminate at their free ends in oppositely sloping portions 22, 24. Each sloping face is inclined with respect to the plane defined by the two leg members, as clearly appears in FIGS. 1 and 3, in order to facilitate passage of one leg member into and beneath a portion of the hair on the head and the passage of the other leg member over the-outer surface of the mass of hair. In addition, the webs of the leg members are provided with rounded inwardly projecting portions 26, 28 which together define a constricted throat portion. A row of comb teeth 30, 30 is mounted on the side of leg member 12 extending outwardly therefrom and lying in the plane defined by the two leg members. In addiice 2 tion, the web of leg member 12 is extended downwardly beneath rib 20 to provide a pair of deflector or guard members 32, 34, each of which extends outwardly beyond the ends of the teeth 30, 30 and prevents snagging of the hair by the comb teeth during use.

The device as shown is adapted for use by a righthanded person, the sloping face 22 of leg member 10 sloping upwardly toward its free end when viewed from the joined ends of the legs. A device adapted for use by a left-handed person would have the inclined faces sloping in the opposite directions.

The device is preferably constructed as a unitary onepiece molded article, being molded from a suitable hard rigid plastic material such as hard rubber, polystyrene, nylon, polymethylmethacrylate, or the like.

In use the handle 16 of the device is grasped in the right hand, and the individual hair fibers are aligned by passing the comb teeth 30, 30 through them a few times. The device is then advanced from right to left as seen in FIG. 2 transversely of the direction of the hair fibers, leg member 12 by reason of the slope of inclined face 24 being directed into the mass of hair so as to underlie it while sloping face 22 of leg member 10 rides upwardly over the individual hair fibers. The advance of the device is continued until the entire opening between leg members 10 and 12 is filled with the hair tress, whereupon the device is lifted slightly to permit those hair fibers which have not passed through the constricted throat of the device to be separated somewhat from those which have passed through the throat, whereupon the hair fibers remaining between the leg members may readily be grasped with the free hand, permitting removal of the hair tress gauge preparatory to winding the tress upon a curler. During this operation, it should be noted, guard members 32, 34 serve to facilitate insertion and removal of leg member 20 either or on top of the hair fibers with a minimum of disarrangement of the hair fibers by comb teeth 30, 30.

Although specific embodiments of the invention have been described herein, it is not intended to limit the invention solely thereto, but to include all of the obvious variations and modifications within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A hair tress gauge comprising a pair of spacedapart leg members joined together adjacent one end and defining a plane, the free ends of said leg members terminating in portions which are oppositely sloping with respect to said plane to facilitate passage of one leg member into a tress of hair on the head and the passage of the other leg member over the outer surface of said tress of hair, said leg members defining an opening therebetween which holds a measured quantity of hair when said gauge is advanced across said tress of hair.

2. A hair tress gauge as defined in claim 1 in which each leg member carries a projection extending toward the other inwardly of its free end to form a constricted throat for said opening.

3. A hair tress gauge as defined in claim 1, further characterized in that said leg members are generally parallel throughout their extent and the gauge is adapted for use by a right-handed person in which the sloping face of the leg member at the right, viewed from the joined ends of said legs when the plane of the legs is horizontal, slopes upwardly toward the free end of said leg member.

4. A hair tress gauge as defined in claim 1 comprising in addition ahandle, extending outwardly from the joined ends of said leg members and lying in the plane of said members.

5. A hair tress gauge as defined in claim 1 comprising in addition a plurality of teeth extending outwardly from 5 the side of one of said leg members and lying in said plane to form a hair comlrintegral with said gauge.

UNITED STATES PATENTS Burlando Feb. 4, 1913 Donahoo Sept. 20, 1938 Wallace et a1. Apr. 25, 1939 Madore Dec. 17, 1940 

